¹⁴ The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A large stone was there; so they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.^(A)

²² Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him; here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.^(A)

⁴ On the next day, the people got up early and built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being.^(A)

²¹ He returned from following him, took the yoke of oxen, and slaughtered them; using the equipment from the oxen, he boiled their flesh and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out and followed Elijah and became his servant.^(A)

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come closer to me,” and all the people came closer to him. First he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down;^{(A) 31} Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name”;^{(B) 32} with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed.^{(C) 33} Next he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.”^{(D) 34} Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. Again he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time, ³⁵ so that the water ran all around the altar and filled the trench also with water.

³⁶ At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding.^{(E) 37} Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have turned their hearts back.” ³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust and even licked up the water that was in the trench.^(F)

²⁵ David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being. So the Lord answered his supplication for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.^(A)

David’s Altar on the Threshing Floor

¹⁸ That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”^(A)

²⁹ he said, ‘Let me go, for our family is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your sight, let me get away and see my brothers.’ For this reason he has not come to the king’s table.”

⁵ Now Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen, and Saul said, “What is the matter with the people, that they are weeping?” So they told him the message from the inhabitants of Jabesh.

⁹ So Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord; Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him.^{(A) 10} As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel, but the Lord thundered with a mighty voice that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were routed before Israel.^{(B) 11} And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them down as far as beyond Beth-car.

¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah^[a] and named it Ebenezer,^[b] for he said, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”^{(C) 13} So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel; the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.^{(D) 14} The towns that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel recovered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵ Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.^{(E) 16} He went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places. ¹⁷ Then he would come back to Ramah, for his home was there; he administered justice there to Israel and built there an altar to the Lord.^(F)